People have shown UDF the door: CM

‘BJP confined to isolated pockets, LDF win transcends religious, regional barriers’

The people have pushed the Congress to the periphery of State politics, as is evident from the results of the local body polls, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.

The electorate had also confined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a few isolated pockets. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) had increased its vote share tremendously across the State. Its win transcended religious, regional, and caste barriers, he told mediapersons here on Wednesday.

‘Shunning secularism’

The Congress had paid an enormous penalty for abandoning its secular position. The party had brazenly aligned overtly with the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami and tacitly with the Sangh Parivar to gain a few votes. The people saw through the gambit. They realised that there was no qualitative difference between the Congress and the Hindu majoritarian Sangh Parivar or the Muslim fundamentalist Welfare Party of India (WPI).

Traditional supporters of the United Democratic Front (UDF) cut the ground under the feet of the Congress and threw in their lot with the LDF. The ruling front had shunned secret alliances and fought the electoral battle based on its policies and political programme.

The BJP and Muslim fundamentalist parties shared a symbiotic relationship. One justified the existence of the other. Both forces chipped away at the foundations of secular Kerala for political gain. Voters realised that the LDF was the only credible force that opposed the profoundly cynical and perilous politics of communal hate.

The alliance with the Jose K. Mani faction of the Kerala Congress (M) and the Loktantrik Janata Dal helped the LDF foray into the traditional bastions of the UDF.

‘Impact of welfare steps’

The voters saw through the smokescreen of lies laid down by the Congress and BJP to tarnish the record of the LDF government. A section of the media and Central agencies had assisted the Opposition campaign. However, people saw that the LDF had not abandoned its social welfare schemes or development plans in the face of multiple natural calamities, contagions, and economic crisis.

The government had ensured no one starved during the pandemic. The people had appreciated the tangible benefits of LDF rule. For one, an estimated 2.5 lakh indigent families had received free modern housing. They knew the LDF cared and they voted for the government in overwhelming numbers, he said.